Former Women's March leader Linda Sarsour held an illegal rally against the State of Israel in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington DC yesterday (Tuesday).
It is illegal to hold rallies inside the Capitol building, which houses the US Congress and Senate. About 60 protestors were arrested during the illegal rally, Capitol police said.
“We were aware of a group’s potential plan to take a tour of the US Capitol Building and then start a protest,” the police said in a statement. “It is against the law to demonstrate inside the Congressional Buildings, so we brought in additional officers to be prepared for the moment the group would break the law. The group was screened when they entered the building. Once they broke the law, roughly 60 people were immediately arrested for [violating] D.C. Code § 22–1307 — Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding.”
Protestors held signs demanding a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization, and chanted "Not another nickel! Not another dime! No more money for Israel’s crimes!”
This is not the first time Sarsour has been involved in an illegal rally. In August 2020, Sarsour was arrested at an illegal protest in Louisville, Kentucky.
Sarsour, a prominent Palestinian-American activist, has a history of antisemitism. After coming to prominence as part of the 2017 Women's March, she claimed that feminists could not be Zionists and stated that "nothing is creepier from Zionism." In 2018, she came under fire for comments accusing US Jews of dual loyalty. In 2019, she compared Zionist to white supremacy and stated that the State of Israel "is based on supremacy, that is built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else."
Following the Hamas massacre of over 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, Sarsour delivered a speech in which she belittled the posters of the 240 people taken hostage on that day. In her speech, Sarsour advised fellow anti-Israel activists not to tear down the “little posters” not because doing so is wrong, but because it is bad optics to do so.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote in response to Sarsour's speech: The lack of compassion, the absence of empathy and the complete deficit of even a hint of decency tells you everything you need to know about her. Absolutely everything. It’s not just pathetic, it’s **prejudice** full stop."